Taimur Ijlal

Application security has come a long way these past couple of decades. In the early 2000s, SQL injection and Cross Site Scripting (XSS) attacks were a nightmare for cybersecurity teams as attackers easily bypassed network firewalls through attacks at the application layer. Since traditional network firewalls at that time were not application-aware, these attacks proved a blind spot allowing attackers to compromise web applications easily.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is causing massive changes in our lives both at the individual and societal level with the global A.I. market expected to reach around 126 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. As more and more decision-making moves to AI systems, unique risks are being introduced. However, this topic can be quite challenging for newcomers who want to understand the governance and cyber-security risks that AI introduces.

The Middle East is especially vulnerable to ransomware because enterprises in the region have had relatively little experience with remote work and off-premises data storage. The nature of such attacks has also evolved.

DDoS attacks are now a standard part of the threat landscape in the Middle East and technology leaders need to recognize this reality. Here are suggestions on how protect your organisation from DDoS attacks.

As cloud service providers ramp up data centres in the Middle East, technology leaders should seriously consider serverless computing. Here are the advantages and potential pitfalls of serverless computing.

Middle Eastern governments are looking to AI to help diversify their economies from oil and gas, and private enterprises are looking to deploy the technology to achieve operational efficiency and offer new services. Here are some of the challenges that tech leaders in the region need to keep top of mind.

Many Middle East tech leaders are moving to the cloud for the first time. Here are practical tips for making cloud security work for you: common problems to avoid, the need for in-house skills, why identity management is key, and smart use of threat intelligence.

Article I wrote on the challenges faced when implementing DevSecOps in an organization and how to successfully implement it

December 2012 article published in Spider magazine

Article published in the October 2012 issue of Spider magazine

Article published in September 2012 issue of Spider magazine

Article published in March 2012 issue of Spider magazine

Article published in December 2011 issue of Spider magazine

Article published in November 2011 issue of Spider magazine

Interview with CSO Pakistan on how to develop and rollout an Information Security Strategy based on each organization's unique inherent risks

Taimur Ijlal, former Head of Information for Dubai Bank, walks us through the reasons behind the explosion of reported cyber incidents throughout the Middle East in the past two years and considers the wider impact of threats to financial institutes.